“Don’t look at me like that,” Yvan replied testily. “I was trying to prevent this very thing from happening. He got here early and for that I am sorry Anya. You have to come with me now otherwise you will be dead within a day.”
“I don’t really have a choice do I? Besides, I have to stop the ‘magical’ gates from collapsing.” She tried to laugh but a nervous squeak came out instead.
“You do have to close them and Skazki may be a good place to learn and hide. You won’t have restrictions like you have in Mir. Even an untrained Shamanitsa in Skazki is better than none at all.”
“That’s settled then, I am going with you. Now tell me what the hell this is all about.”
“I will tell you. Whether or not you believe me is up to you,” Yvan said with resignation.
“After what I have seen in the last few days I am ready to go on a little faith.” Anya wrapped the coat around her tighter, pulled off her boots and tucked her feet under her. Yvan squatted to light a small fire in the hearth. Fire came out of his hand igniting the dry wood. He looked at his hand in amazement for a few moments before turning back to her.
“My father was the great Tsar Vyslav and he had the most beautiful orchard in all of Skazki. He was particularly proud of his golden apples. Every day he used to go to the orchard and count them. It came very quickly to his attention that one was being stolen every night.”
“He was furious when he found out and posted guards to watch for the thief. In the dead of night the guards witnessed something not seen in our country for a thousand years. The apple thief was none other than a legendary firebird.”
“When Vyslav found out he went to his two eldest sons, Dimitri and Vasilli, and told them the one who caught the firebird would get half of his kingdom and be his heir. I begged to try too but he would not let me. My brothers went to watch for the bird that night but when boredom struck they started to drink vodka and fell asleep. The next day they tried to say the bird had not come at all but my father knew because another one of his golden apples was missing. I swear he loved those apples more than his own family,” Yvan added with a touch of sadness. “I finally convinced him to let me try. That night instead of vodka I drank a lot of strong coffee and managed to stay awake. I dressed in dark green clothes and hid as best as I could.”
“After many hours it finally came. I was entranced by its beauty and blinded by the sudden light. As it perched in one of trees I crept up on it but I did not leap soon enough. The bird detected me as I pounced clumsily for it. By the Gods didn’t it squawk! I only just managed to grab one of its tail feathers before it flew off. My hands were already blistering by the time I rushed into the palace with my prize.”
“As soon as my father saw the tail feather I knew it would not be enough for him. Sure enough in less than a day he commissioned my brothers to search for it claiming that whoever caught it would be given half his kingdom and be his heir. I was yet again forbidden to go even though I had been the one to catch the feather.”
“Wait!” Anya said with her hands in the air to stop him. “I know this story. Eikki told it to me.”
“Really? Or did he simply tell you the fairytale version?” Yvan said sarcastically.
“The eldest brothers set out and they came across a large marker stone,” Anya said. “It said whoever took the first road would know hunger and cold, on the second road his horse would die and the third road they would die but their horse would live.” Yvan snorted but Anya continued.
“The brothers didn’t know which to take so they camped by the road for weeks to try to come to a decision. The youngest brother, you apparently, was finally allowed to go and you crept past your camping brothers. After taking the second road, a wolf ate your horse. The wolf was Koschey in disguise. He offered to carry you when you could walk no further. He took you to a lush garden where the firebird lived in a golden cage, but he told you to only take the bird and to leave the cage.”
“That damn cage started it all,” Yvan interrupted. “It started ringing in alarm and woke the whole place up and of course I was captured in the process. I was dragged before the Tsar of that country and forced to tell him the whole wretched tale. He ended up taking pity on me but he boasted I could have had the firebird if I’d asked. Unlikely! He was going to execute me unless I went and stole for him a horse with a golden mane that belonged to a neighbouring Tsar. He had been coveting it for years but the neighbour would never even consider selling it to him.”
“You met back up with Koschey didn’t you?” Anya asked.
“Of course, and how the bastard laughed when I told him what happened,” Yvan continued, grinning at the memory. “He came with me to steal the horse but warned me not to touch its golden bridle. I thought he was playing a trick on me in mockery of last time but he wasn’t.”
“And you got caught again,” Anya laughed.
“If I had thought the last Tsar had set a difficult task this one certainly outdid him. To get out of this execution I had to go and fetch a Princess from one of the other Tsardoms.”
“Helena,” Anya stated.
“Yes, Helena. She was…” Yvan faltered, searching for the right words to describe her. “She was very beautiful.”
“You carried her off but you fell in love with her and when the time came to hand her over you couldn’t do it. So Koschey changed himself into her form and you exchanged him instead. That must have made an interesting wedding night.”
“He escaped the Tsar that night and travelled with us to the next Tsardom,” Yvan continued. “He had had such a laugh tricking the last Tsar he offered to do it again. So he changed himself to look like the golden-maned horse and was exchanged once more. Helena and I rode off on the horse and waited for Koschey in the forest. He showed up two days later with a pack of hunters after him and was having a grand time of it. We only just managed to escape with Helena on the horse and me riding on Koschey’s back. The firebird really didn’t like the rough trip.”
“Koschey finally left you though where he had first eaten your horse,” prompted Anya.
“Yes, his repayment for eating my first horse was complete. Personally I think he came along just to create some mischief. We decided to camp for the night before presenting my father with my success. But Vasilli and Dimitri knew we were there. Dimitri had always been rather dim-witted and tended to follow Vasilli in whatever he did. Not much of an older brother in any sense. Truth be told he was scared of Vasilli since the day he was born. We all knew Vasilli was different. He has a dark soul and a very cruel nature. But never did I think he had it in him to kill his own kin.”
“They murdered you didn’t they?” Anya asked. Yvan looked uncomfortable but she continued. “They cut you up and threw you into the river. They threatened Helena into making her say that they, not you, had retrieved the horse, firebird and her. Your father bought the tale and Vasilli got half the kingdom…”
“No, here is where this charming little bedtime story is wrong,” snapped Yvan. “Dimitri was to get half the kingdom. He was the rightful heir anyway. Vasilli wanted Helena and the firebird. He wanted Helena because she loved me not because he wanted a wife. Koschey found my body and caught the crows that were about to eat my dead flesh. The mother crow pleaded for her children and he agreed to let them live if she went and stole from the Gods themselves the Water of Death, which made my body whole again, and the Water of Life which made me live again. I don’t remember any of this. Koschey told me after and honestly I don’t know whether he was lying or not.” Yvan’s voiced trailed off. He was looking thoughtful and sad. When he continued his voice was quiet.
“After I woke he helped me onto his back and carried me back up the river to where Vasilli was about to wed Helena. My father was kind enough to listen to his naked, newly alive son. My brothers were to be punished but through tricks of Vasilli’s they managed to evade the guards and escape. He had always had talents with dark magic and my father had never tried to stop him using them.�
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“And you married Helena and lived happily ever after,” Anya said.
“Hardly,” Yvan muttered. “Yes, I did marry Helena and for a time I thought we were happy. One night, about two winters later, I couldn’t sleep. I rose and started to walk around the palace as was my habit. I saw Vasilli and two of his minion shape shifters, Vischtan and Vischto, sneaking into the palace. They detected me straight away and were soon chasing me, baying for blood. Vasilli released the firebird from its cage and started to perform a spell which would enable him to steal the bird’s magic. He killed Helena for her blood because a human sacrifice was required to make the spell permanent. I ran to stop him but as I grabbed the bird it exploded and we were both reduced to ashes.”
“When a firebird dies its ashes are carried on the winds to a sacred temple. There the priests make a new egg and when the time is right the bird re-hatches. Unfortunately for me, my ashes were carried on the winds as well.”
“And you and the firebird were made into a new egg,” Anya finished in awe. “That is why you keep changing. After all this time Vasilli is still hunting you. No wonder he is so impatient. It would be a long time to wait to get revenge on the one person who had foiled your plans,” Anya looked at Yvan and saw his pain and anguish. Immediately she felt ashamed of making him relive it all. Light had begun to trickle through the trees outside and the crushing weight of exhaustion settled on her.
“Go to sleep Yvan,” she said gently.
“You should sleep too,” he suggested as he stumbled over to the small camp bed. “We will have a long night ahead of us.” Anya went and stoked the fire high before curling up underneath her warm coat once more.
Anya felt nervous as she watched the glowing coals something twisted around inside of her. The vibrations under her skin were getting stronger. She glanced across at Yvan who shook violently every few seconds in his sleep. What things are you dreaming about?
Hesitantly she got up, picked up the faded blanket off the end of the camp bed and folded it over him. Her fingertips brushed him and she felt like she had been electrocuted. Images flooded her mind. Helena covered in blood, a mighty palace burning to the ground and Vasilli’s dark eyes following her everywhere. Anya stumbled backwards away from Yvan, shaking so forcefully she thought she would collapse. Yvan had stopped shivering and was now sleeping peacefully.
“What have you gotten me into?” Anya whispered.
Chapter Five - When Walls Break
Anya woke hours later when the sun was high and found Yvan missing. She tossed back her coverings and put on her boots before going outside. Light poured through the heavy branches of the pine trees, turning their fallen needles golden. A few birch trees still had leaves left and their patterned bark caught her gaze. Anya hadn’t explored the forest in some time. After Eikki died it had made her skin crawl. She hadn’t even been able to walk the borders to collect wild berries without her eyes making shapes from the shadows.
“I see you finally woke up,” Yvan’s voice cut through the stillness, making her jump.
“Unlike some people I haven’t been asleep for the last few hundred years,” Anya replied. “I thought you might have abandoned me.” He smiled and held up two freshly caught trout.
“I had to catch breakfast,” he said, “And I also wanted to make sure Vasilli had left.”
“Why didn’t you wake me? I wanted to check if any of the animals were alive.” Yvan looked away from her and Anya knew the news was bad.
“There is nothing left. I am sorry. It would have been too traumatic for you to go back. I wanted to spare you any additional pain.”
“If you knew anything about me then you would know I am used to it,” said Anya bitterly. “Was Vasilli gone?”
“Yes, for now,” said Yvan as he moved towards the small cabin. “I think he will be back tonight. While he is in Mir looking for us we will slip into Skazki with a head start.”
“I will get some wood.”
“I’ve already got some,” Yvan pointed to the pile.
Anya turned and gave him a meaningful look. “I will get some more,” she replied and headed for the trees.
She didn’t know why she was angry with Yvan. He hadn’t destroyed her life. If anything he was possibly the only person who could help her solve the riddle of her supposed magical ability but she had become comfortable in her misery in the past few months. She found the stream and washed her face in the cold water. A deep pain filled her chest over the loss of the animals. Her striving to keep them alive and have the farm running had been for nothing. They all had names and had been her only company after Eikki had died. She had failed them.
After a while Anya ambled back to the camp and sat next to the tree Yvan was cooking under. He passed her a tin plate with food on it and a cup of coffee.
“For a hunting cabin it is amazingly well stocked,” he commented as she picked at her food. “Eikki must have come here a lot.”
“He used to disappear for days and always come back at night. I assumed he was hunting.”
“I wonder if he practiced his magic here,” Yvan said thoughtfully.
“If he did he never told me. He never told me anything.”
“He was trying to protect you. He might have wanted to shield you from the burden of it all. It seems you have already suffered much tragedy in your life.”
“If I had known where all the visions and other things I can do had come from then perhaps it wouldn’t have been so tragic,” argued Anya.
“What can you do?”
“I can see things. I can look at a person sometimes and know their secrets, things that should remain hidden. I dream of things and they happen. One of my dogs got hit by a car when I was little and I wished him to get better. In less than an hour he was running around like nothing had ever happened,” Anya said. She remembered how worried Eikki had looked that day. He had never said a word about it to her.
“None of the mothers in town would let me play with their children because I told one of them their real father was the village priest. After that all hell broke loose. Turns out he had fathered more than one in town.” To Anya’s surprise Yvan began to laugh. He had a good deep laugh which illuminated his whole face.
“Another time a little boy pushed me over and I scraped my knee. I was so mad and embarrassed. Then the boy started to scream and scratch himself all over. He broke out in a rash and was away from school for three weeks,” Anya continued. “He was never game enough to push anyone over again.”
“I imagine it would have been hard having all the mothers being afraid of you. It would have been lonely.”
“I have always been too busy on the farm to ever feel lonely and Eikki was good company.”
“Ilya was as well. I remember being so nervous when I met him. By the end of the night I was so drunk and hadn’t laughed so hard since I was a child. Perhaps it runs in the family,” Yvan said before taking a drink from his cup.
“The drinking? It certainly has turned up in my nature. Insanity as well.”
“You are not insane. I have met insane people and you do not even come close. And I thought you hitting your head last night was very amusing.”
“I was drunk,” defended Anya. “I have an excuse.”
“Of course,” he said seriously while trying not to smile. “It seems you have some magical talent. Now you are aware of it hopefully it will develop some more because you’re not trying to repress it all the time.”
“Pass me those plates and I will take them down to the wash house,” said Anya as she gathered up the cutlery. She didn’t want to talk about her theoretical magic.
“There is a wash house?”
“And a sauna. Come, I’ll show you,” said Anya as she got to her feet and led the way. She hadn’t been in the forest for a long time but she had slowly started to remember the cabin and the surrounding buildings from when she was a child. Eikki had brought here to show her what herbs grew in the forest and which mushrooms were poi
sonous. She hadn’t been there for so long she had forgotten about it completely.
They followed an over-grown path through the trees to a little log shack built next to the stream. It held a large copper brazier which heated the water for the bath. Anya quickly lit the fire. She was going to have a hot bath today with or without Vasilli chasing them.
“I wonder if he did his magic here. The Shamans of my people often used bath houses to perform their magics,” Yvan said as they looked around the building. “And Norsemen used saunas to invoke visions.”
“That was probably due to dehydration,” Anya said dryly, “As you can see there is no evidence of magic.” To emphasise her point she pulled open the sauna door with a flourish.
The benches she remembered had been pulled out and replaced with a small stool and a table. Dried plants hung from the roof with paintings and symbols covering the blackened walls. Anya felt heat rise through her and she became dizzy and nauseous. “Oh shit,” she mumbled as she took in the clutter before her. She stumbled outside breathing in deep gulps of cool air.
“Do you believe me now?” Yvan asked gently from behind her.
“Would you have believed straight away if you were in my position? I never knew this even existed.” She indicated to the contents of the sauna.
Yvan placed a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go back in. There could be things in there that could help us in Skazki.”
“If you say so; I wouldn’t even know what I am looking at.” She walked back into the sauna and sat down on the little stool. Heat didn’t overwhelm her like it had done minutes ago. Yvan walked around the room examining the paintings and curious objects. Feeling useless and displaced Anya played with some smooth stones she found in a covered clay bowl on the table. She picked one up and dropped it on the table. A ripple passed through the table and continued on. Yvan stopped suddenly and looked outside.
“Did you feel that?” he asked in a whisper.
Anya picked up the stone again and dropped it against the pine. The same ripple occurred but stronger. Yvan turned to look at her.
Cry of the Firebird (The Firebird Fairytales Book 1) Page 4